Allow me to start by saying, fuck the MLB owners. It’s more of a general statement towards all billionaires in the world at this point in history where financial oppression is really starting to feel en vogue. If that sounds prejudice towards billionaires then we’re on the right track. If you’re a billionaire reading this and you’re offended Venmo me that Million dollar pocket change and see if my opinion shifts. In terms of the baseball negotiations however, the MLBPA is a formidable opponent in the way too rich, disconnected from reality, douchebag contest and has been for a couple decades.

If you’re not caught up on the minutia that is the labor negotiations in the MLB, I don’t blame you. Let me give you a 2 sentence recap. Players want more money faster. Owners don’t want to give it to them.

Here’s where I will give a Devil’s advocate lean towards the owners. Of course in negotiations they do not want to give up more money. They run their businesses. They have set their margins and they don’t want those margins to shrink. In a $10 billion dollar a year business I’m sure those margins could afford to shrink, but it is a negotiation. So, in that same breathe instead of saying flat out NO to the player’s demand they present different options that will keep the owner’s margins relatively the same and get the players their money.

For example, here are big ticket items the owners have proposed:

Expanded Playoffs and a Decreasing the Luxury tax and/or implementing a salary cap (fat chance).

MLB Owners Playoff Expansion

The owners want a 14 team playoff expansion that would increase revenue in order to make up for the increase in pay for the players. The players have countered with 12. I ask why players? More revenue eventually means more money for you especially with your iron curtain union. There is a case to be made that more teams eligible for the playoffs will disincentivize teams to get better resulting in lower salaries. If you ask me that’s a stretch. The players are pushing back on an easy agreement because they can. Because giving an inch is just not acceptable.

The luxury tax issue is the big one. It has yet to be discussed at any length in the CBA negotiations this year. The tax is currently set at $210 million. The Dodgers and Padres were the only teams to pay the tax in what was almost certainly a level of ownership collusion to keep costs down before the new CBA agreement. Obviously the owners would like to see that number on the low end and players the opposite. This is where I can really pick a bone with the players.

All professional sports leagues have salary caps. They are created in theory for competitive balance across the league. One of the major components in the players negotiations is getting small market clubs to stop tanking. This in turn creates a larger market for players to get larger salaries. If just the Dodgers and Yankees are shelling out “fuck you” money deals that’s a narrow needle to thread for players to change their families fortunes for fucking generations to come - holy shit I can’t believe the audacity of these mother fucking millionaire man-boys playing a game for a living fighting with these lace curtained wanna be plantation owner tax evaders. Sorry that rant just spilled out of me like a Tuesday at Irene’s. But a salary cap generally comes with a floor creating a more equal playing field financially for teams to spend which of course creates a larger market for higher player salaries. That’s the idea.
Revenue sharing is a big related issue here. Teams like Pittsburgh can field a team with a payroll the same as Mookie Betts’ salary while that fuck boi billionaire owner collects checks from the Red Sox and Cubbies. Well, hey there players! A salary cap and floor is a step to alleviate that problem. The players don’t want to go that route though, because it will in theory limit the amount the high end players can make. But, ya try telling that to the quarterbacks in the NFL. Who’s deals are still not fully guaranteed by the way. Bobby Bonilla is still getting paid and Delonte West is homeless. Just to reiterate the power of the MLBPA.
So baseball players want to tell us they are fighting for the rights of the little guy by increasing the arbitration pool money and fighting over service time rules for the young players or the middling contracts. When at the same time the high end players actually doing the negotiating refuse to budge an inch on an actual issue that would make it possible for the little guy to get a fair shake.

There just seems to be very little give from the players side in the CBA negotiations. Their approach really over the past 2 decades is to just brutally slowly chip away at the piece of the pie. And ya, whatever, good for them there is absolutely a discrepancy in pay and teams do take advantage of young players with service time and the wildly confusing arbitration process. That should be fixed. But, bumping up the floor while also continuing to raise the ceiling in not negotiating. It also is not helping the sport.

4. There is no denying that a salary cap brings parody to sports. Beyond that the one thing that has not even been sniffed at in this CBA bullshit is THE GAME. Ya know this 4 hour marathon that sits on TV’s in the corner of bars on mute every single day for 7 months of the year. The same sports once called a nation’s past time that now couldn’t keep a kid’s attention if you duct taped his eyes open and strapped him to chair. The game is 150 years old and the rules haven’t changed. They have lost market share to every professional sport worth a damn besides soccer and all these players give a shit about is more money faster. God forbid the sport eliminates the sticky icky substance that could be used as defense against the big bad wolf or nuclear explosions. No! They huff'd and puff’d as if a world atrocity was being cast upon them. And you want to talk about pitch clocks? Good luck.